Best OEM iPod Solutions?

[silent66]

Who has the best in-car solutions for connecting your iPod from your factory stereo?

[ripit]

Hello,

I've been lurking here for a while and I just wanted to follow up with a response, since I found my solution among the many posts on this site. I have a black 5g and 2004 GMC Yukon. I went with a USA Spec iPod interface and a ProClip mount. IMO, I don't think there is another combination that can match this setup for looks, sound, ease of installation, usability and price.

It has a very clean look. There is only one visible wire which is the connecting plug that routes from behind the head unit. I chose to use the ProClip mount with the semi-permanent cable mount so the wire is not dangling loose when the iPod is not connected. Due to this, I did have to make some mods to the mount because the space for the plug is sized to fit the oem iPod plug exactly. The plug that comes with the US Spec adapter is a a slightly different shape. It was trivial to shave off some of the plastic to on the mount using a Dremmel. The vehicle mount is custom for the Yukon and simply snaps in place in seconds. The fit is so tight that I did not even use the sticky tape that is included. It is mounted directly to the right of the head unit.

The great part about this adapter is that it gives you the option to control the iPod either using only the head unit controls via 5 specially configured playlists or you can set it up so that the music is controlled directly with the iPod. If you choose the playlist method and have an XM ready head unit, the latest version will display Artist and Song information on the head unit (at least on GM vehicles) but the iPod will not show any information. When using the direct control method, you can still skip forward and backward using the head unit and/or steering wheel controls if you have them. The artist and song information will not display on the head unit, but the iPod will show it's normal display. This is the way that I chose to set it up. I think it looks pretty slick with the artist and song info displaying along with the album art.

The sound is as good as it gets for an in car solution and is only limited by the quality of your factory system and the quality in which your music is encoded. Any loseless files should be indistinguishable from CD's.

Outside of the mod to the plug mount which took me about an hour or so, the total instal time was about an hour. I don't have much experience doing this sort of thing, so I would think anyone that knows which end of a wrench to hold can do it in the same or less time. The what took longest was locating the factory XM receiver (it was behind the glove box) and figuring out how to disconnect it. This adapter can work with a disc changer, XM and nav system. You do have to splice a wire in order to have the iPod and XM co-exist. Since I do not subscribe to XM, I simply disconnect the XM receiver. If you do not do one or the other (splice or disconnect) the XM preview channel will be mixed in with the iPod over the speakers. The extra wires are a bit bulky, so getting the head unit to fit back in the dash was a little tricky, but not too bad.

The adapter itself is pretty small (about the size of a pack of cigarettes). I mounted it in the glove box so that I can have easy access to it if I want to change any of the settings or if I want to connect any additional devices to the stereo (it has line in jacks as well).

All in all the whole set up (excluding the iPod of course) cost about $200. I think it looks and sounds great. I think the black iPods look particularly good in car installs.

Sorry for the long post but I just wanted to share my experience since I was able to get so much information from others on this forum.